I've flown yet another two missions yesterday for a total of 4 up to now!

First one was a CAP mission over Novorossisk as the Reds had planned a strategic attack against that city. I took off as number one of a 4 flight of Bf109G-6s and circled the ground targets at an altitude of around 5000m. After about 10min I could make out a contact coming in from the north-east which turned out to be a single Pe-2. I turned after the aircraft which had started a shallow dive at great speed and had to break off before getting into firing range as I was already less than 10km/h away from the structural dive limit. When the Pe-2 pulled out of its diving attack I was able to close the distance right over the city at maybe 500m and opened fire with a few well aimed 30mm bursts. The aircraft rolled over and the pilot bailed out. Right after that I started a spiral climb to get back up to altitude, however I didnt have much time as a 2nd Pe-2 came in from the very same direction, greeted by our Flak. Again I was able to get in close just as the bomber was recovering from the dive and with a few shots I managed to shoot off its right wing, the aircraft immediately departed into a violent spin and crash just at the coast. Again I started to gain altitude again as there were still a number of bombers in the air. Several minutes passed until I could make out a pair of contacts flying a straight and level right over the city at an altitude of maybe 3000m. I firewalled the throttle and set myself up behind and below the two contacts which turned out to be the remaining Pe-2 bombers. I closed in on the #2 aircraft and lit him up with fire from my guns and cannon. He turned into a ball of fire, scattering debris everywhere. Not a second passed and I heard gunfire behind me, a La-5F of the escort fighters. I immediately rolled over into a Split-S but he already got a few hits in, I could see a huge hole in my right wing. As an airfield was just half a sector away I decided to dive down as fast as I could and make for an emergency landing which I succeeded in doing. From my parked aircraft I could see a dogfight raging above and another Pe-2 falling in flames. Fortunately I made it home in one piece and the 3 airkills were certainly worth a celebration!

The other mission was a CAP again over a friendly supply convoy supplying sector H13 near Anapa. I took off in a Bf109G-2 and immediately made for the objective. After just a few minutes I was right over Anapa and could see the convoy travelling on a road just north of the city. Quite some time passed until I saw flak tracers rise up from the nearby airfield. I could see the distinctive shape of an IL-2 hugging the ground and so I dove down to attack. At around 1000m I had to pull up again because of my overspeed and saw a few Russian La-5F and FN fighters below. I dove in right behind one of them, he saw me just as I was getting into firing range and pulled into a hard right hand climbing turn which I was perfectly able to match, I tightened my turn more and more until I had a perfect gun solution. A quick burst and his tail plane came off. The canopy was jettisoned and the pilot cleared himself from his stricken ship. I pulled off to the right to avoid hitting the tumbling aircraft and saw another La-5 just slightly above and turned after another Bf109. With my surplus speed I was able to climb after him and got him in my sights just as he was about to stall out in his left hand climbing turn, he was a sitting duck! A well aimed burst later and he went down with one wing less. Meanwhile a pair of Focke Wulfs had taken care of most of the IL-2s and the convoy was happily making for its destination with just one or two vehicles destroyed. I therefore decided to head for the other mission objective which was a strategic attack on Gelendzhik carried out by a flight of Ju88s. Over Novorossisk I made out a number of contacts, one of which was a Bf109, the rest I assumed were the remaining La-5s. One by one I attacked the Russian fighters which were peace- and cheerfully flying at low altitude among the clouds, they never knew what hit them. One out of the three La-5s I attacked took a few hits and then dove out of my sights. The other two remained their haphazard course and I was able to shoot down both in just a few high speed passes. I now called it a day and made for the airfield at Novo. Just as I was entering the landing pattern a La-5 dove on the airfield and let loose a few shots at the parked aircraft, however the AAA got the better of him and the Russian crashed right next to one of the hangars. It was the same La-5 that I had hit earlier and that had fled the combat, so another kill added to my score, which resulted in a total of 5 airkills that mission!

A night mission with Ju88s on a strategic strike on Dubnovo and a flight of 4 FW190A4s as escort. I took lead of that flight with Heep and Solrac as my wingmen. We took off and as our bomber guys (Uther, 6High) told us to go to the target area in advance we headed south in a wide turn to the east. Meanwhile most of the AI bombers were going directly to target with lights on at low altitude. Fortunately for them the 4 flight of La5s didnt spot them right away and continued with its mission of escorting Pe2s on an airfield attack (we could see the AAA tracer in the distance). Uther and 6High however managed to get run down by a single La5 who nailed them badly. I dove on the bandit (who had already been hit in the engine by one of the Ju88 gunners and was trailing a faint smoke line) but missed on my first pass. I zoomed up again, rolled over and came down again, this time the guy knew I was coming and banked away in time, I did my zoomclimb/dive combination again and this time the La5 driver didnt seem to see me as he straightened out just above a small forrest and went southeast. From below and behind I closed in on him and sent him down in 2 pieces with a burst from point blank range. Just seconds later I spotted another La5 not far out on my 1 o clock in a wide right hand turn. I stayed low and under his horizon so as to be able to sneak up to him. When I closed in he tightened his turn more and more... "Did he see me? Oh well I'll just charge into him". Fortunately for me though he didnt seem to want to turnfight with me and just straightened out after around 90° of turn which left me right behind him and at a distance of around 150m, I closed in even more and then let fly with my guns. The bandit reacted fast and tried to roll out of my line of fire but when he had finished a half roll his plane was left out of control by the massive fire I was putting into him. Just when I overtook him the canopy flew off and a dark, small shape leapt into the open.

I continued my course towards Dubnovo and again stumbled on aircraft, this time a Rotte of unidentified single engine fighters which turned in right in front of me but a good kilometer ahead flying very fast and towards another pair of contacts. Through communications I figured out that these must be the Ju88s of Uther and 6High up in front and the 2 bandits must be Yak1Bs! I firewalled the throttle and let my plane jump forward but unfortunately I closed in very slowly. The Yaks seemingly did not spot the Ju88s flying a tad higher and to their left hand side as they continued their course straight and level. About 30 secs later I was still trying to catch up, now down to 500m of seperation and gaining slowly when the two broke in a wide right climbing turn. I stayed under their line of horizon and tried to cut their turn so as to close in even more... god those Russians really never look around, but hey I dont mind! Now I was just under 300m after and 100m below the trailing Yak. My engine was already overheating as I had run it at full power since the fights with the La5s. CLosing even more... 250, 200, 150 now they again turned to the right in a very wide turn and with an angle of bank of maybe just 10-15° This was what I had been waiting for. I opened fire on the Yak in front and scored multiple hits on him, the muzzle flashes of my guns were obstructing the field of vision a bit but I managed to stay on target and after 2 secs of fire the Yak was trailing fuel and smoke and had several large holes all over its surface. The leading Yak had smelt the rat and pulled harder to the right then to the left again and up into a climb. I pulled away from my current victim and went after the leader. Going into a climb I deployed my combat flaps and the Yak happened to cross my gunsight slowly, all I had to do was to press the trigger - he blew up in an instant!

I then went into a Split-S looking for the other Yak - there it is, to my left! Still going straight and level but for its own airfield. Although I had inflicted so much damage on it already I had troubles with closing in on the bandit and our seperation only slowly decreased. Just when I wanted to open fire another FW swooshed down from my high 7-8 o clock guns blazing at the Yak. Out of fear of collision I made a right-left turn motion to get out of the way. The other FW however stayed behind and I closed in on the Yak again. From around 300m I opened fire and scored several hits, after another burst its left wing snapped off and it went down over the Ju88s ground targets spinning. I then turned to the left and away from all the search lights and AAA. Just when I wanted to continue my course to the north east peacefully I saw a contact passing me at high speeds and same alt on my 11 o clock. Another Yak1B!

I immediately broke away and after the bloke who had now pushed the nose of his plane into the turf and tried to run. When I settled in behind him he broke right into a climbing turn. I pulled deflection until I couldnt see the bandit under my nose anymore and squeezed the trigger. My burst was spot on and hit his engine which immdediately coughed thick black smoke, the canopy opened, a parachute was observed.

I felt relieved again as this had been my 5th kill! At the same time I also was surprised because they had come with little to no fighting back from the Russians, no turn fighting, no roller coastering. They simply hadnt seen me coming as they didnt bother to watch their six o clock. At that moment I banked my plane into a right hand turn and turned around to check my surrounding, thats when I received a shock. A Yak was there and was close, too close for comfort, 200m at the most. My reflexes were at it again and I pulled my plane into a Split S dive, throttle firewalled and radiator fully opened I pulled down to treetop height and with my Yak in hot pursuit, interestingly he hadnt fired a shot yet although I was in firing range of his guns. Not looking back for a while I continued to cut the daisies and raced the Focke Wulff along the Steppe. A minute or so later I banked the plane to the left and saw that my pursuer had already called off the attack and was now doing all sorts of aerobatics in the country side. As I was not in the mood of letting him get away I turned my 190 around and went after him. In the meanwhile he was going course 360 and alongside a river where he performed barrel rolls and other speed consuming maneuvers which took all his attention while I was closing in from his low 6 o clock. "Good boy, keep on trucking... just dont turn, no one's watching..."

250m... 200... 150... 100... 50

And from point blank range I put my last remaining 20mm shells into him. It was sufficient and his left wing parted with the rest of the plane. My 6th kill!

Tuesday 6 Dec.: I take a Bf110. Loadout: Mk108 plus 2 SC500... 75% fuel... wespe skin.Mission: to attack an airfield in K2. We're based in F2 & are to land in H2. Distance to target: 95 km. Expected opposition: A-20s, MiG3s and IL-2s. The mission leader gives us our course. I reply that I'm with him. The fighters have taken off and off we go.

I try to stay close with my leader, but I fall behind? I wonder why??? I discover that when I took off, I accidentaly touched the magneto switch, setting it to magneto 2... Aha! I put it back to magneto 1+2 and I resume following the leader who goes to full speed and climbs constantly. I lag 2 km behind him... Another pilot in a Bf110 follows us (I./JG53_lud13) and overtakes me as he has no bombs. My 1/2 ton bombload is slowingme down considerably.

So we fly a long time without seeing anyone, just the three of us. We reach 3600 meters and stay there. The target slowly approaches. The leader warns us of this and starts a left diving turn. The airstrip comes into sight... We see Pe-2s on the ground lined up for takeoff... yummy!!! The leader has a go and gets some, the other guy in front of me notices some ivans circling the field at low level as to go in for a landing... IL-2s! He jumps them. I dive too on the Pe-2s left on the airfield... speed 460 km/hr. The airfield's small caliber flak begins to bark at me. I see tracers pass above my cockpit. I take careful aim at the middle Pe-2s in a row of 4. My angle is some 45 degrees. At 500 meters distance, I open up with the Mk108 using a short burst.. a Pe-2crashes... first kill!

At 300 meters I release my first baby (SC500), and level out at 80 meters altitude at some 500 km/hour.... look back as I shake my tail because of the flak. Direct hit! Another Pe-2 destroyed... second kill!

I twist and turn to shake the flak off me... I get through and begin to climb in a lefthand turn... suddenly 3 IL-2s appear in front of me, they too in a slow left turn. I ease off the throttle as I still had some 350 km/hour and was too fast for the slow IL-2s. One of them begins to fill my gunsight... short burst of the 30mm and thin black smoke comes out of him... he dives... I follow... I drop my flaps down to take-off position as I am too fast... at 200 meters he trys to go up again.... I fire another short burst... explosion on his fuselage area... Ivan drops his left wing and crashes directly into the ground below. Third kill!

I look around for my mates & see them slightly up. One of the 110s is still chasing the Ivans while the another is strafing the airfield. There are lots of Ivans still up there... I climb and... tracers fly past my cockpit! This is no flak! I hear the reargunner shooting... I quickly bank to the left... full throttle... an IL-2 is behind me. I go into a lefthand spiral climb... he cannot follow... I see him level out after a short climb... I steepen my bank angle, do a little dive and I am on his tail... he is slowly diving. At this moment I see the other 110 above me coming down on this Ivan. He shoots... trys to slow down, but he cannot, so he banks to the right and climbs again... I stay on the Ivan's tail. He is flying slow and banking in all directions... I fire short bursts of machinegun with deflection but ony a few hit him.... I am slowly closing on him... now I think I'll try the cannon... but... the other 110 booms back and fires just in front of me... he gets the kill as I see the Ivan diving into the ground... no problem...

At this point I am pretty low... 300 meters... slow on speed and.... right in front of me is the airstrip. The flak begins to bark again... I forgot to mention that all this time I still had my second baby (SC500) with me... Damn flak! I should've dealt with it first thing! I go to full power and drop my baby as I pass the airfield. Nothing happens of course... it falls on the runway.

I then hit the deck... 50 meters .. use a lot of rudder kicking and twisting... I see tracers all around me... 30 seconds have passed since I flew above the flak... I think I might get out of this.... no... luck runs out!... big bang to my port wing! My number 1 engine is completely taken away by the blast... I look and see the place where the engine is supposed to be... it is empty.

The flak has stopped now that I am far from the field. Quickly, I try to climb a little... I'm at 80 meters. I fully open the starboard engine's radiator... go to full throttle... constant right aileron pressure... at about 300 meters I can climb no more. Speed is down to 240 km/h and slowly decreasing... I don't think I can fly much longer with only one engine.

Before I took off, I memorised that I had to fly a heading of 270 to the target. Luckily my actual heading was 270. I ask ground control for confirmation and I was right... I look at my map... this is going to be a close call! The frontline is still some distance ahead... will I make it? I slowly lose speed... 220... 210... 200... I have to use a little of what altitude is left so I end up at 150 meters with 190 km/h. My engine starts to overheat... great! The front line comes into sight, but there's no way I can reach it. I slowly let the plane touch the ground and I make a beautiful belly landing near a river in I2 quadrant 4. Neither me nor my reargunner are wounded! However, we now fear being captured. That is all I can think about.

I get on the radio and ask if anyone can please rescue us! An Italian fellow in a Bf109 says he might come but changes his mind because he says "The 109 is difficult to land in the field." This makes me laugh... the terrain was superb for landing flat and not a tree for miles... If you kept away from the river everything was all right!

I ask again and this time my fellow 110 pilot (I./JG53_lud13) answers and says he will give it a try. By this time he was already getting ready to land back at base... He checks his fuel and says it is enough and asks my whereabouts. I tell him I am in sector I2 quadrant 4. After about 5 minutes, we eventually see him! I give him final directions and he lands very smoothly.

My reargunner and I quickly run over and climb aboard. It is a little crowded! We are now 4 men onboard. I ask my savior about his effectiveness over the target area. Time passes as he nurses his engines. They seem rather sluggish, which raises an eyebrow! I again ask about the fuel. He says, "Enough!" Nice!... he then takes off... slowly we get some altitude. The flight home is short... about 5 minutes and we see the airfield. "Thank you for saving us," I say "but what is happening? The engines make strange sounds" and the next moment they cut off... no fuel.... oh no! ... but I./JG53_lud13 doesn't lose it. He makes a beautiful belly landing on the runway... NICE MISSION! I owe I./JG53_lud13 a big one!

6High, Hummel and me were flying Bf109F-4s on an escort mission for He111s and Stukas that were to attack/defend sectors F7 and F8 (Unfortunately 6High couldn't join Vent). Our opposition were IL-2s, MiG3uds and P-40Es. After 5-10min of flight we had reached our target sector and circled at an altitude of around 4000m. 6High who (as reported) was flying on his stomach, had some difficulties with orientation and formation flyingespecially as some other 3 Bf109E-7/Z were patroling the same sector. So only Hummel stayed on my tail and I guess Uli (6High) stuck to whomever was in front of him.

After about 10 minutes of boredom, I called out an unidentified contact at my 1 o'clock low over an airfield near a river. Hummel and I closed in on him and I identified it as a P-40E Warhawk. As the bogey was flying in the opposite direction, I cut off his course and dove on him with 1k of alt advantage. The P-40 was heading for another Bf109 that was already fighting another red plane. The Warhawk pilot didn't see me as I closed in very fast and hit him with a long burst - his engine seized and he pulled his plane around in a 70° dive. I followed him and when he leveled out I got several hits on him, including his cockpit area - the pilot was killed immediately!

All the time Hummel was following me at ~300-400m distance. I turned my head around and saw him on my 5 o'clock same alt, but there was another contact that was slowly climbing into him from behind. I called out the bandit and just at that time the P40 (red tracers) opened fire on him. As I was doing a long right turn to conserve speed, I told Hummel to continue his own right turn so I could cut into them. I got as close as 50 meters to the P-40 and shot a burst at him that ruptured his fuel tank and destroyed his rudder - the Warhawk swayed off into an uncontrollable spin. I lost contact and never saw that plane again. Later it was reported that CMHQ_Lee stole the kill which would have been my 5th.

In the meanwhile, Hummel had to turn back towards home because he got hit several times in the engine and was losing oil. After that I turned to my left into a spiral climb to make use of my surplus speed. While scanning the area I caught sight of 3 contacts 2 of which were exchanging fire. I closed in on the dogfight and saw another Bf109F being chased by a P-40E... The Friedrich turned to the left and I cut of his turn to get closer to the pursuer. I dove under the P-40 and at a distance of just 30m I pulled up and got hits on the P40's belly, disabling the engine. I made a high yoyo and came back from above (death from above). My Minengeschosse ripped into his right wing and destroyed his right aileron. The P-40 rolled onto its back and crashed into ground seconds later. My 2nd (3rd) kill - but this was only the beginning!

I still had about 1/2 my fuel and some 70 20mm rounds to make use of. I circled the area a bit when I saw green tracers in the distance - the MiG drivers had finally joined the party! Again a Bf109F was chased by a bogey and we went through the whole procedure. Deflection turn, closing in to 100 and closer, fired a burst and set the MiG on fire. The pilot couldn't bail out before the plane slammed into the mud. "Okay, lets call it a day then" I thought. My 20mm was almost depleted and I wanted to get my kills home. So there I was flying at 2000m when all of a sudden a hail of green tracers flew by my cockpit! I immediately pulled my plane to the right and caught sight of a MiG on my tail! He followed me into a turnfight and just as I was about to turn onto his six, he leveled out and broke off. But in the end it didn't matter - I could close in on him and shoot at his rear fuselage with my last 5 20mm rounds. He was smoking badly as suddenly another Bf109F raced past me towards the MiG and fired a burst at him - "KILL STEALER!" I thought but the guy fortunately missed and I could close in again on the MiG. "Okay better make these MG17 shots count" I thought and fired a small burst that hit the bogey in its rear fuselage - to my surprise the tail came off and the bandit spun towards the ground. HORRIDO!

The other Bf109 joined formation with me after that kill and we both flew back to base.

Cyanide's account of his first CAD mission since the campaign has been reset.

"Monday evening, around 20:00 pm local time, I come online and find Karaya appointed to "Minister of Online Wars". I immediately received orders to apply for CAD wars, which has started anew.

Uther and Heep were on as well and when the four of us applied, we went for some action... And action we got: I can't remember details like Karaya usually can, so let's skip to the interesting parts: I offered to be Karaya's wingman on the Bf109F-4 and Uther and Heep teamed up on another flight, I think also with 109's. I remember there were two armored columns fighting each other quite close to a blue airbase so Karaya decided to patrol that area while Heep and Uther patrolled another area. It remained quiet for a little longer than anticipated, because judging from the radio traffic and the Ventrilo action from Uther and Heep, we were missing all the action.

Until Karaya spotted some Pe-3's that is..... And while Karaya was making a couple of passes on a Pe-3, I made sure his 6 was covered. And while Karaya's 6 was clear, mine.......... apparently was not, for green tracers started flying by my 109. Shocked, I called out to Karaya that I was being bounced (2 MiG-3's) and had to hit the deck real fast. I already lost my gunsight and thought I'd be out of action because of that.

On my dive down, I hit a top speed of 790 km/h (possibly hitting 800 somewhere) and the 109 really started to vibrate. I managed to pull out and decided to head for the closest airbase (which was also being swarmed by said PE-3's).

While I was heading to the airbase, I encountered a lone AI-controlled Pe-3 which I duly sent to the great beyond (which was quite hard without gunsight). In the process I received an oil leak which obscured the forward view. I called out to Karaya that I was low and this time really heading for landing...... Shouldn't have said that, for I encountered another Pe-3 on the way down. At first I decided to let it go, but heh; a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do...

This time it was quite harder...... I already switched off gunsight mode (ctrl+f1) for better visibility and started an attack run on a Pe-3 without gunsight, off center view, oil all over the windscreen and basically not really seeing the damn target. So after putting some "test shots" to the target (I need to know where the bullets go without crosshair, which explains low hit %) I switch back to gunsight mode and had a shoot-out with the reargunner. I hit him, he hit me and I hit him some more. In the end shouting at the damn plane to go "freaking down".

I think the AI pilot heard me because finally it went down in flames.

That meant it was landing time again: bulletholes all over the place, the plane handled like a brick. I managed to set her down though, only to collapse the landing gear (wheels) again and getting the familiar "Cyanide failed on landing approach" message.

In the end the Luftwaffe lost 3 planes, while the Ruskies lost 12. Unfortunately we did have some casualties on the ground, but I'm no hero withthose CAD-statistics.

Karaya got 4 A2A-kills (3 Pe-3's and a MiG-3) Heep got an I-16 and a Lagg-3 Uther unfortunately didn't bag any deer this time out."

---Flg.Cyanide

NOTE: In this mission, the Russians lost 12 planes, 8 of which to JG52 pilots!

I got this WarClouds report from Hptm.Karaya last week, but I just now got around to posting it. (I've been busy around the base and also in the hangar trying to help the mechanics get my planes air-worthy again.) I'll file thisreport to Karaya's record ASAP.---Kdr.Maj.Schatten

A couple of days ago I was flying alone in my trusted Bf109K-4 over the Balaton area at around 4000m altitude when I suddenly noticed a dot approximately 1k below me between a formation of clouds. I pushed my engine to full power and went after the contact in a 45° dive - as I was closing in I could clearly identify the contact as a Spitfire Mk.IX (either c or e). He probably didn't see me closing in on him from his 7 'o clock high because he continued a wide left turn at constant alt. From less than 100m distance I opened fire on him and scored hits on his rear fuselage area. He lost an elevator and his right rudder and with much effort he could roll to the left and down.

At that time I was zooming up again and having a look at my surrounding. To my horror I saw a contact coming in on me fast from my 6 'o clock slightly higher as well as 2 contacts circling around 500-700m above. I continued my climb and slightly turned into the contacts on my rear - Spitfire... I can see it clearly now. Full power again and turning into the bogey, just trying to ruin his gun solution to then continue the climb with my superior speed reserve and bag him from above.

But as you know: When it rains, it pours! The 2 contacts I had made out at a superior alt where P-38L_lates and they had just spotted me! One of them had entered a dive and was coming straight at me. I turned away to get an angle and make his aiming more difficult. When he raced past I was already down to around 300km/h and ready for an Immelmann on the Spitfire. Just don't ruin it!

Where's the bogey? I see him! He's circling below me probably searching for me after he had lost contact. I'm diving down on him and THEN, yes, he's leveling out. I'm on his 8 o'clock now and closing in. A well aimed burst and his left wing comes off!

Now let's not get too overexcited. The 2 P-38s are still above me with lots of alt and speed to spare. So I decide to hit the dust and get fast and low. I'm pushing the Kurfürst into a steep dive and accelerating like mad. Peak speed is 800km/h - leveling out again at around 1500m.

Looking back I think I lost them... Good heavens - what a thrill... no wait, there are 2 Dots behind me at around 3000m diving down - it's them! I'm turning into them... the rest happened pretty fast. One of the 2 P-38s zoomed up again while the other stayed down low with me in a turn fight. Of course that was not a wise thing to do. Not even a minute later I was coming in fast from his 3 o' clock position. With some good aiming and a grain of luck I hit him in this high deflectionshot and his elevator came off - one bandit wasted!

At that time a friendly had joined the scene and was going after the second P-38 which was now trying to get away at tree-top level. I used my superioir alt (still around 1500m at that time) to close in on him from his dead 6 o' clock and shot his left fuselage to pieces. HORRIDO!

Well, enough fighting for this day. Heading back to base to celebrate with the boys and a bottle of champagne!

PS: The 1st Spitfire crashed on the way down and I was credited with the kill."----Karaya

June 4th=== Schatten's journal entry ===Today I witnessed some of the best Bf110 piloting I've ever seen. We received orders from Kdore.Obst.XRay to go on a ground attack mission. Hptm.Shad and Oblt.Smeg were ordered to pilot Bf110s. Their mission: go deep behind enemy lines and destroy trains delivering fuel, ammunition, and supplies to the Red Army. XRay, Oblt.Meitag, and Flg.Ajax provided air cover using Bf109s. My Bf109's rudder was being repaired, so I accompanied Smeg as his rear-gunner.

We reached the target area without incident. Soon we saw dark billowing columns of smoke on the horizon, revealing an extensive rail network branching out from the Russian armory. Smeg and Shad showed great teamwork as they coordinated their attacks over the radio. Smeg destroyed 3 trains by making low-level passes; his bombs detonating and destroying the freight cars within seconds of our passing over them. Once he was out of bombs, he began low-level strafing runs on the other trains, trying to neutralize their flak cars.

Soon we were intercepted by large groups of La-5s and the Bf109s engaged. Seeing that we were greatly outnumbered, I called out on the radio for instructions and XRay gave us the order to bugout and RTB.

Shad, haven taken hits in his right engine from AAA, made his escape back behind friendly lines where he was able to ditch.

Then Smeg and I found ourselves being tailed by a pair of La-5s. Smeg dropped down to tree-top level and pushed the throttle forward to 110%. We knew we couldn't outrun them, but we hoped that they would lose sight of us. No such luck. They continued to gain on us. When they came into gun range, I fired short bursts at them, trying to discourage them from attacking. Again, no luck. After exchanging a few bursts of gunfire, we were hit in the right fuel tank and began leaking fuel. Then the lead La-5, feeling confident after scoring hits on us, dropped in close on our 6 with a determined attack. He and I exchanged a long burst of gunfire. I scored hits in his engine and canopy but he was simultaneously scoring hits on our tail. Then the glass in my canopy shattered in my face. I immediately ducked and covered my head. When I got back up, I saw the La-5 leader fall to the ground and explode. His wingman was still behind us but falling back. I went to man the gun again, but it was so severely damaged that it was unoperational. I alerted Smeg of our situation. Luckily, the wingman, after losing his leader, disengaged.

Smeg continued flying towards our airfield. Along the way, we passed over one of our forward bases and saw that Meitag had landed. He had lost his rudder in the fight but had managed to escape and make an emergency landing.

About that time, I noticed 4 dots in the distance at our 6 o'clock. Just as we neared our airfield, they caught up to us. More La-5s! Apparently, our position had been radioed in by the breaking La-5 wingman. I felt helpless as the La-5s closed in tight on our 5, 6, and 7 o'clock positions; trying to box us in. One after the other, they began making passes at us. Smeg, jinking all the while. A few times, they managed to score a few hits on our wingtips, but Smeg was able to avoid most of their fire as we circled around the outter perimeter of our airfield. Finally, after what seemed forever, we saw tracers come up from the AAA guns on our field, but it didn't discourage the La-5s too much. They kept making passes at us. Then I was amazed, as they all simultaneously disengaged and headed for home. Apparently they had exhausted all of their ammunition. Then Smeg radioed for permission to land, which was granted, and he circled around on final approach and smoothly put us down on the ground. What a ride!

I've already filed papers recommending him to be awarded for a job well done.

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